Elizabeth McKinney

Dr. Kanwit
Topics in Fiction
16 November 2012
Ethical Decisions: Tight-rope Walking Your Way Between Choices
An entertainer has to make many decisions when it comes to his performances. His
audience plays a big role in his acts. He has to pay attention to who will see his performance and
what is appropriate for them to see. Sometimes these choices become ethical or moral, especially
when the performance could be dangerous, such as tight-rope walking. In the novel Let the Great
World Spin, author Colum McCann tells the mostly true story of Philippe Petit, who walked on a
tightrope between the World Trade Center towers in 1974. By choosing to do this walk, Petit
made a decision that can be seen as selfish and unethical for several reasons. In addition to being
illegal, Petit put many lives in danger or at risk: everyone on his team could have been arrested
and the spectators could have been injured or killed if the wire broke or if Petit had fallen. His
performance also disrespected the symbol of the Twin Towers for America. The book, however,
barely talks of these implications of Petits decision, making them seem unimportant, so the
reader must also watch the documentary, Man on Wire to learn about what exactly the team went
through.
One of the many self-centered decisions Petit makes is to form a team to help him with
his walk between the Twin Towers, putting them at risk. Everyone who was a part of the
operation acknowledged that they were most likely going to be arrested and would have to spend
time in jail. Another danger was that one of the buildings was still under construction, which
meant the sides of the building were open and there were tools and materials lying around. The

McKinney 2
group set up their own tools throughout the night, so they were working in the dark. They had to
maneuver their way around a building they were unfamiliar with while carrying loads of heavy
tools and materials that they could barely see. All of these aspects made their job very dangerous,
and Petit was the person who got the most reward from the act.
Petits stunt also put all of the spectators in jeopardy. He knew the wire was dangerous,
especially when it was connected to the two World Trade Center towers, which were designed to
move, to adjust, in the wind; a sway of the buildings could snap the wire in two (162). He was
aware that the wire could tighten in the wind, snap (243) and even the frayed end of a cord
could . . . chop a mans head clean off in midflight (162). There was also the possibility of Petit
himself falling from the wire, or a team member falling from the edge of the roof. If someone
had fallen, that person would have died, and if they landed on one of the spectators, that person
would have also been at least injured, if not killed as well. Another safety issue was all the
equipment they had: if they dropped anything off of the towers and it had hit someone on the
ground, it would have seriously injured or killed the person. He was also exhausted by the time
he did the walk. He had worked the whole day and night before, and was dehydrated, and in no
shape to walk for almost an hour on the wire. Petit thought about all of these issues, he didnt let
the risk stop him from making the walk: he was exhausted. He hadnt brought enough water. He
thought perhaps he mightnt even be able to walk, so dehydrated that his body would crack on
movement (163). He continued with his plan, though, after getting an adrenaline rush, which
made him new again (163). This rush of energy is something many performers experience and
would have been only temporary, meaning his feeling of exhaustion could have returned at any
moment while he was on the wire, putting his stunt, and everyone around him in jeopardy.
Instead of backing off, he decided in a single moment to go through with his plan, though.

McKinney 3
The walker seemed to make a lot of decisions on a whim or without much thought at all.
For example, he decided to practice walking in a meadow during a thunderstorm, to test himself
in the wind. He only realized afterward that the pole he carried, and the steel wire he walked on,
were both potential lightning rods, and he could have been killed (158). Another example is
when he walked in the snow in the meadow. Petit dove into the snow because it was beautiful.
He was exuberant, almost stoned. I should jump inside and swim (159). He realized while he
was in the air that it was a bad idea, but it was too late. He didnt think about what diving into the
snow could do to his body until it was too late. The injuries from the fall could have ended his
career, but he jumped anyway, because he was entranced. On a different note, his relationship
with Annie Allix also seemed to be based on a whim. According to the documentary, nothing was
exactly said to make their relationship official, and it ended the same way: they both seemed to
go their separate ways after Petit walked between the towers, although this may have been partly
because Petit had a date with a woman immediately after his trail. In this situation as with all
the others, Petit didnt think about what others wanted. He made his decision and expected the
other people to follow him. In the documentary, Allix said her dreams and life goals were pushed
to the side, and she was expected to be there with Petit, following his dreams.
Along those same lines, Petit was very unconventional when he was hired as an
entertainer for parties. He was mainly hired to work as a magician, but told his employers he
couldnt guarantee that hed do anything at all, but he still demanded to be paid (239). He took
the jobs, even though he didnt like them, because he needed money. His employers were willing
to risk losing money from him not performing just to have him at their parties. He sometimes
stole from the hosts as well, such as when he would leave disguised as a caterer, a tray of
uneaten hors doeuvres above his head (240). The host paid for that tray of hors doeuvres, but

McKinney 4
Petit took them, instead of leaving them for the party guests. Aside from the parties, he often
played tricks on men in bars. They would challenge him to an arm wrestling contest and he
would refuse in order to avoid getting injured. Instead of fighting fairly with the men, he would
steal their keys and move their trucks (160). This prank seems harmless, and is physically, but it
could prove to be a cruel joke to be played on men who were inebriated. The men would have
been very confused when they left the bar, and could have gotten in trouble for public
drunkenness, fighting breaking out over who stole the vehicles, or perhaps even with their
wives for losing the truck. Petit made decisions based on himself, ignoring what would have
been considered the common good because it simply wasnt his style.
In addition to the seemingly inevitable threat of physical harm from Petits walk between
the towers, it also disrespected and defiled the icon of the World Trade Center. The towers were a
monument of national pride. They were, at the time, the tallest buildings in the world and were
built in hopes of bringing economic growth to the city. The towers brought a sense of pride and
nationalism to the people of the United States, but particularly to the people of New York City.
Petit came to New York to walk between the towers on a tight rope as a foreigner. He had no
sense of what they meant to the people and he even had no definite reason for making the walk.
When spectators asked him why he did it, he said, the towers were there. That was enough. He
wanted to ask the reporter why he was asking him why (243). The documentary quotes him
saying there is no why. Basically, Petit made a game out of walking between the towers of this
national monument.
Although Petit certainly made a lot of decisions that are blatantly selfish, he also made
decisions that seem to benefit other people. He did shows in Washington Square Park (238). This
helped him prepare for his walk between the towers, but he could have done that in solitude.

McKinney 5
Instead, he performed for the public, without demanding payment. He even brought business to
the drug dealers who hung around the park: the tourists he brought were easy hits (239). Petit
shows his considerate side while he is being arrested. His second thought after getting off of the
wire was that it needed to be taken down before it could snap and hurt someone. He told the
police it needed to be taken down and felt relief when he saw them loosen it (243). His few good
moments are overwhelmed by his reckless decisions, though, and his actions cannot be
reconciled.
The novel shows Petit in a good light the whole way through, despite his unethical
choices. The book gives Petits story a thoughtful, concerned, and thrilling tone. The reader is so
swept up in the action of the stunt and the glimpse into a foreigners mind that he or she cant
see, or chooses to ignore, the fact that this walk is just as dangerous for the spectators as it is for
Petit, at least physically. The documentary, on the other hand, doesnt sugarcoat anything Petit
does. He and his team members are interviewed individually and they each talk about what
actually happened. They all were prepared to go to jail for helping Petit, even though they didnt
get the immediate gratification he got from the stunt.
Let the Great World Spin gives readers the opportunity to feel the thrill and excitement of
the life of a tight-rope walker. It shows all of the planning and practice Philippe Petit put into
preparing for his walk between the World Trade Center towers. What it does not reveal is the
danger surrounding the event: Petit put himself, his friends, and all of the spectators at risk when
he walked out on the wire between the towers. Man on Wire gives the viewer a more realistic,
less idealized version of Petits story: it explains the risks involved in the event without making
light of them. The documentary portrayed Petit as selfish and unethical while the book made him
into a hero.